Dear members, national and international professors, guests of honor, colleagues and companions, friends all:
I cordially welcome you to our grand event, the National Gastroenterology Week, a congress with which we close the year of academic activities. Throughout its 89 years, the Mexican Gastroenterology Association (AMG) has been a leading institution in the organization, participation and innovation of scientific, academic and research programs. Shortly after its founding in 1946, it was one of the pioneering institutions in participating in the first National Congress of Medicine. In 1952, it held the first “National Congress of Gastroenterology” in Mexico City, an event that was later renamed in 1972 as the National Gastroenterology Week, since it lasted exactly one week. Over the years, and in response to different types of needs, the duration of the event, like many other international congresses, was reduced until it became its current format, with two days of pre-congress and three days of congress.
Over the years, the AMG has innovated in the format of its congress in different ways. From 1975 onwards, the first supplement to the Journal of Gastroenterology was published, which included summaries of the papers presented during the Congress. Later, different types of pre-congress courses were incorporated, such as those on Nutrition and Gastropediatrics, as well as trans-congress courses on liver, endoscopy and digestive system surgery, making it a true Digestive Diseases Week. To this have been added joint symposia with different national and international associations of both gastroenterology and some subspecialties such as hepatology, endoscopy, neurogastroenterology and motility, or inflammatory bowel disease, always considering recognized national and international experts in each topic, and when possible, inviting the President of the Association with which we hold the Joint Symposium.
This year, the Postgraduate Course in Gastroenterology has been divided on the first day into hepatology and endoscopy and on the second into Gastroenterology, with 6 modules of talks and keynote lectures and 5 meals. The course directors this year are Dr. Miguel Ángel Valdovinos Díaz, Dr. Enrique Coss Adame, Dr. María de Fátima Higuera de la Tijera and Dr. Mercedes Amieva Balmori, while for the hepatology section we have invited Dr. Graciela E. Castro Narro, Dr. Ana Delfina Cano Contreras, Dr. María de Fátima Higuera de la Tijera, Dr. Nayelli Cointa Flores García and Dr. María Saraí González Huezo. The Postgraduate Course in Nutrition was developed by Dr. Sophia E. Martínez Vázquez, Dr. María Fernanda Huerta de la Torre and MC Luis Alberto Chi Cervera. The Gastropediatrics course was organized by the Pediatrics Committee, Dr. Ericka Montijo Barrios, Dr. Rosalía Figueroa Salazar and Dr. Sergio J. Fernández Ortiz.
The 2024 Congress Directors are Dr. Ramón I. Carmona Sánchez, Dr. María Eugenia Icaza Chavez, Dr. Louis Francois De Giau Triulzi, Dr. José Antonio Chávez Barrera and Dr. Mario Peláez Luna. This year for the plenary session we have a very special Keynote Lecture by Dr. Barry Marshall commemorating the 40th anniversary of the discovery of Helicobacter pylori. Some of the most relevant topics of this year's symposia include artificial intelligence, use of neuromodulators, update of consensus and good practice guidelines, pharmacology and biologics in IBD, new endoscopic tools, small bowel bleeding, gastroesophageal reflux disease and a hodgepodge of esophageal diseases, gastrointestinal oncology, emerging diseases, fatty liver, acute and chronic viral hepatitis, gastrointestinal histopathology, nausea and vomiting syndromes, dysbiosis, pancreatic pathology, social networks, medical-legal and fiscal aspects, as well as a cultural session about the world of wine, among others. We have a Transcongress Course on Endoscopy by Dr. Ángel Ricardo Flores Rendón, Dr. Daniel Ruiz Romero and Dr. Angélica I. Hernández Guerrero, as well as another on surgery by Drs. Miguel Ángel Mercado Díaz, Dr. Eduardo Prado Orozco, Dr. Antonio Ramos de la Medina and Dr. Noel Salgado Nesme. As every year, we have scheduled several joint Symposia with other international sister associations. This year the Symposia are with the American College of Gastroenterology (ACG), the World Gastroenterology Organisation (WGO), the Pan-American Organization of Gastroenterology and Endoscopy (OPGE), the Pan-American Crohn's and Colitis Organization (PANCCO), as well as the Guatemalan Society of Gastroenterology as a guest country. As every year, we have an extensive Program of Free Papers, and thanks to the support of the Scientific Committee, we will have 15 sessions and 80 oral papers, as well as daily poster presentations. We have extensive participation from the pharmaceutical industry, with a total of 44 laboratories, whom we thank as always for their collaboration. During the present event, we have 18 symposium meals and a breakfast sponsored by the industry, 5 meals in the Gastroenterology Course, 1 in the Nutrition Course, and a box lunch workshop at the Endoscopy Transcongress.
Another of the innovations proposed by the Board of Directors this year is to include tributes during the opening ceremony, rather than the closing ceremony, to a former President and to two international professors who have participated with us for many years as Honorary Associates. At the end of the opening ceremony, instead of a cocktail party, we have organized a formal dinner for registered Members of the event (limited capacity). This is a way of thanking them for their attendance and will serve as a prelude to the celebration of the 90th Anniversary of the AMG in 2025.
See you in Merida.